Edenton

A scattering of houses about six miles northeast of Oxford, was first settled by John Downing, who in the early part of the nineteenth century opened a tavern and a store to serve neighboring farmers. Nathan Blackman, Jr., who had printers ink in his New England blood, named the hamlet when he established a weekly newspaper there in 1814. In a period when new towns were springing up like mushrooms, he could do nothing more than advertise his particularly delightful residence. The newspaper was entitled Eden Starr. Two years later, when the newspaper office was destroyed by fire, Blackman moved to Russellville, a mile away, and resumed the newspaper under the name of American Star. [1]